6 Times Drake Has Seemingly Jinxed His Favorite Athletes

Having Drake on your song can be life-changing. He can turn a mediocre track into something special, transform a remix into an event and assist in making a little-known artist into a trending topic as fast as you can say “look alive.” But when it comes to having Aubrey on your favorite team/player’s bandwagon, the results can and have been disastrous at times.

Drizzy is a big sports fan. Some would call him a groupie athletics opportunist who tends to roll wherever the winning winds take him. He’s been spotted in so many lockers rooms that he should have a press pass. He stays on someone’s sideline yucking it up with the team’s best player and we all remember him oddly partying it up with LeBron James and the Miami Heat after the team won their second championship like he was the fourth member of the Big Three.

While Drake tends to flip flop, he has a few affixed allegiances to his hometown NBA team the Toronto Raptors and the University of Kentucky men’ basketball squad. But instead of being the organizations’ lucky rabbit’s foot, the 6 God has seemingly been the black cat.

Having Drake as a fan definitely has its perks but—if you believe in superstition—it can end up being more of a “Go home Roger” situation than "What a time to be alive" moment. Over the years, a Drake curse has jokingly been brought up to signify teams and athletes losing when they get the rapper's support.

Most recently, the University of Alabama fell victim to the supposed bad juju after Drake was seen donning a team hoodie before the Crimson Tide got unexpectedly stomped in the 2019 National Championship game.

Is Drizzy the harbinger of bad sports vibes or is this all God's plan? XXL compiles a list of times Drake has seemingly jinxed his sports team/player of choice in their shining moment.

University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball

Drake is a mega fan of Coach John Calipari and the University of Kentucky's men’s basketball program. He even got a ring when the school won its most recent national championship in 2012.

In 2014, he offered a team pep talk in the locker room after their win in the Final Four. Then they went out and lost in the championship game.

In 2015, when the Wildcats made it back to the Final Four facing University of Wisconsin, Aubrey made a very public $6,000 bet with The Game that his team would be victorious. They weren’t and Drizzy had to pay up. The usually successful squad hasn’t won a championship since the 2012 season.

Toronto Raptors

Drake might be the Toronto Raptors’ biggest fan—he's literally on the team’s payroll as their global ambassador. He’s basically the Canadian counterpart to Spike Lee, though the squad hasn’t always been able to do the right thing with Aubrey stalking the sideline.

In 2018, the team rolled into the playoffs with the best record in the Eastern Conference and the franchise's history. Some analysts tabbed them as the team to break LeBron James’ streak of reaching the Finals. During Game 1 of the contest, Drake got into a heated argument with the Cavs’ Kendrick Perkins that was captured on cameras. Drake's spectacle marked the start of the ending. The Raptors would go on to lose every game in the series, making an unceremonious exit.

Johnny Manziel

Drake knows talent when he sees it. He saw a gem in controversial quarterback Johnny Manziel. Drizzy would proudly wear the Texas A&M player’s jersey, name drop him in his bars ("Draft Day") and also partied and hung out with the Heisman Trophy winner. Drake even pushed for Manziel to start for the Browns after the QB was drafted into the NFL.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out for the boisterous quarterback, who battled alcohol and substance abuse issues and was quickly ousted from the league.

Serena Williams

Dating rumors have swirled around Drake and Serena Williams for years. Serena was even asked at one point if the rapper was her lucky mascot due to his frequent presence at events. So, when Drizzy showed up to her U.S. Open match and she shockingly lost to underdog Roberta Vinci, fans faulted the “God’s Plan” rapper for the upset. The hashtag #BlameDrake was even started for people to vent their frustration over Aubrey jinxing the tennis great.

Conor McGregor

Drake was a whole mascot for Conor McGregor at the fighter’s weigh-in for his UFC 229 bout against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The Canadian rap star came out draped in Ireland’s flag, mean-mugging and passing out daps. In the end, the luck of the Irish was not with McGregor for his return to the ring and the MMA brawler caught a vicious fade from a vengeful Nurmagomedov during and after the fight.

University of Alabama Football

The University of Alabama football team has created a dynasty over the past decade, which means it was par for the course to see Drizzy sporting a Crimson Tide hoodie on social media the day they took on the University of Clemson in the 2019 College Football National Championship game. He even offered some words of encouragement to the team. The favored ‘Bama squad ended up getting molly whopped and Drake became the cause of unrest for fans again.